7 Ways to Improve Your Company’s Print Marketing Strategy

Print marketing isn’t dead. In fact, a 2014 study found that 76% of small businesses say their ideal marketing strategy includes a combination of both print and digital marketing efforts.

So if you’re not utilizing print marketing in your marketing strategy, you should consider it! But it can be hard to know where to start. And if you are using print marketing already, it can also be hard to know how to improve it.

That’s why we compiled 7 actionable ways you can improve your print marketing strategy. Check them out below.

1. Understand Your Target Audience

As with any advertising medium, it’s essential that you know who your target market is in order for your print marketing to work. If you’re sending your messages to the wrong crowd, you won’t get a positive ROI on your advertising spend.

If you’ve already performed market research recently, you may have a strong understanding of your target audience. But many companies could benefit from increased research.

Start by analyzing your current customers. Look for information about their preferences, their interests, and their location. If you have a CRM, look and find commonalities between all your customers.

If you don’t have this type of consumer information readily available, it might make sense to perform some interviews. Work with some of your most loyal customers and see what you can learn from chatting with them.

These activities will shed some light on the people who’ve bought your products or services in the past. Having this information will then allow you know what your future target market is like.

Remember that while this process may seem time-consuming, it will pay off in the end!

2. Connect with Your Target Market

Now that you understand who your target audience is, you have to make sure you are able to connect with them. This can be easier said than done, however.

This is because on average, people see hundreds or thousands of advertisements every day. Some studies even estimate that we see 4,000 ads daily. In order to make an impact on your audience, you have to stand out.

Most people probably don’t remember the majority of ads they see, both in print and digital media. There are multiple factors that impact your connection with our audience, including message, imagery, typography, and color.

Make sure you think through these aspects as you create your print advertisement.

3. Make Your Message Clear

There’s nothing worse than a confusing ad. You want your creative to stand out, but you also want your audience to understand it. If it just stands out because it’s strange, that won’t have the impact you’re looking for.

The best way to accomplish this goal is by keeping it simple. Think of messages from some of the most popular companies out there.

McDonald’s ads reinforce the idea of loving their food with “I’m lovin’ it.” Nike’s simple message of “Just do it” has catapulted them to the top of the sportswear industry.

Simple, but eye-catching print marketing materials are your goal.

4. Personalize Your Print Marketing

Identifying your target market will help you zero in on your ideal customers. But don’t stop there. Instead, personalize your print materials even more.

One effective way to do this is by adding your recipient’s name to your print marketing piece. This usually works best in direct mail campaigns.

In fact, one study found that using a person’s name and full color can increase your response rate by 135%.

Also, consider segmenting your database so that you can send personalized materials. Think about how powerful it would be to recommend a certain style of shirt to a customer and having it fit in exactly with their fashion style.

These are just a few ways to add a personalized touch.

5. Choose the Correct Medium

Now that you’ve got your message figured out, it’s important to distribute it in the right way. There are lots of different types of print marketing mediums. Here are some of the most common ones:

• Mailers
• Posters
• Flyers
• Billboards
• Postcards
• Magazine or newspaper ads

Each medium has a different purpose and various pros and cons. Billboards, for example, reach a lot of people, but are seen by the general public, not necessarily your specific target market.

Does your target market read a specific magazine? That could be the perfect place to put a print advertisement.

No matter the medium you choose, you can count on companies like New Era Print Solutions to actualize your ideas. Click here for more info.

6. Make Something Unique

How can you make your print advertisement stand out? This is one of the biggest things to think about. You are spending a lot of time and money on your project, so you want it to be worth it.

To do this, make it unique! Think about using a higher quality material or paper. Maybe you could have a pull-out section of your ad or have it fold in a different way.

Could you use an image that is a little shocking? These are all ways to be unique.

7. Last but Not Least: Analyze and Adjust

With any marketing campaign, one of the key steps is to analyze and then adjust. Here’s what that means.

Campaigns will produce different results. Some will totally knock it out of the park, some won’t do as well as you hoped, and some will be so-so. This is normal.

The important thing to do is to learn from your mistakes. There’s an element of trial and error in most creative fields. So try things out, see what works, and go from there.

The worst thing you can do is to get discouraged. So when something doesn’t work out, check out the data and see what happened. Then make a plan to do better next time! It’s that simple.

Final Thoughts

Now that you’ve read through these ways to improve your print marketing efforts, it’s time to try them out!

Pick your top ideas and get started. Don’t get discouraged if it is a learning process.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us! Or check out our blog for more tips and tricks.